Story Description:
Dutton Adult|March
19, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-525-95348-7
In Six Years, a masterpiece of modern
suspense, Harlan Coben explores the depth and passion of lost love and the
secrets and lies at its heart.
Six years have
passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another
man. Six years of hiding a broken heart
by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave
Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new
husband, Todd.
But six years
haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jakes comes across
Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s
hoping for but she is not Natalie.
Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for almost two
decades, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about the best time
of his life, a time he has never gotten over is turned completed inside
out.
As Jake searches
for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be
found, or don’t remember Jake. No one
has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search
for the woman who broke his heart, who lied to him, soon puts his very life at
risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on a carefully
constructed fiction.
My Review:
Jake Fisher is
sitting in a church pew watching, Natalie, the only woman he has ever loved,
marry another man – Todd. As Jake sat and
watched the ceremony he thought back on the good times that he and Natalie had
shared. Like how after making love she would
put on his blue dress shirt and how she’d pick up her sketch pad and begin
drawing him while he read the newspaper at breakfast. He was beginning to wonder why had had even
come to this wedding as he felt: “two hands reach into his chest, grab his brittle
heart on either side, and snapped it in two.”
When the best man
brought out the rings that was enough
for, Jake. As quietly as he could he
left the church. After a few moments out
in the sun he heard, from behind the chapel doors, cheers and applause. Jake headed for the back of the church when
he heard a voice say: “Hello, Jake.” It
was, Natalie. Jake congratulated her and
she showed him her wedding ring and told him she couldn’t believe he was
there. Jake told her that still loved
her and Natalie said she knew that but told him it was over and he needed to
move on. Natalie stood and stared at
Jake saying: “Promise me you’ll leave us alone, promise me you won’t follow us
or call or even e-mail. Promise me,
Jake. Promise you’ll leave us alone.” What could, Jake say but “okay, I promise.” Without another word, Natalie walked
away. Jake told himself he would leave
her alone, he would keep his promise.
For six years.
Six years later
sitting in his office at the university, Jake saw a newsfeed come across his
computer screen. When he saw the photo
of the man and his name, he managed to hold in a gasp as he had one of his
political science students sitting with him.
The photo was of Todd Sanderson and it was his obituary. Natalie’s husband had died. Todd’s age was listed as 42 and, Jake knew
that Natalie was 34. He hadn’t realized
there was that large of a gap between their ages. The obituary went on to say the funeral would
be Sunday in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina and that Mr. Sanderson was survived
by his wife and two children. Jake
thought about what he should do, after all he did promise to leave her
alone. After staring out the window for
a while watching the students on the commons, he returned to his computer and
booked a flight for Savannah.
Jakes arrives at
the funeral and quietly enters the chapel as the service had already
begun. He stood at the back with some
other people as no seats were left. He
kept craning his neck toward the front to try and catch a glimpse of Natalie
but there were just too many people. He slipped
back out the door to wait and watch the people exiting thinking that would be
his best shot at seeing Natalie. Finally
the chapel doors open and the coffin is carried out by the pallbearers and
behind that comes the widow wearing a big black hat holding the hand of a
little girl. Jake is stunned, the widow
is NOT Natalie!
Six Years is a rollercoaster ride of
thrills and suspense galore. With each
chapter you are left dumbfounded and just can’t figure out the story at
all. I kept waiting for my “aha” moment
when I’d have it solved but it never came.
Mr. Coben kept me guessing and in suspense right to the very end. What a well-written spellbinding book. I definitely will recommend this to everyone
and anyone. Way to go, Mr. Coben!!
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